Perelman School of Medicine

One reason cancer is so difficult to treat is that it avoids detection by the body. Agents of the immune system are constantly checking the surfaces of cells for chemical signals that say they belong, but cancer cells express the same chemical signals as healthy ones. Without a way for the immune system to tell the difference, little stands in the way of cancer taking over.

Even in healthy individuals, the skin plays host to a menagerie of bacteria, fungi and viruses. Growing scientific evidence suggests that this lively community, collectively known as the skin microbiome, serves an important role in healing, allergies, inflammatory responses and protection from infection.

Six faculty members from different schools at the University of Pennsylvania are taking their research one step further, with support from the annual Quartet Pilot Research Project Competition.

The use of topical antibiotics can dramatically alter communities of bacteria that live on the skin, while the use of antiseptics has a much smaller, less durable impact.

Penn is building a new hospital on its West Philadelphia campus.

Certain pediatric leukemias share a common underlying cause with treatment-related secondary leukemias. Both diseases involve translocations in the KMT2A gene, in which a portion of this gene is swapped out with DNA from a “partner” gene on a separate chromosome.

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announced today it has awarded a $9.25 million grant to Penn researchers to study the underlying mechanisms of concussion and help uncover potential clinical interventions that could improve recovery.

In a huge study of female rhesus macaques, a team of researchers led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Michael Platt found those with many close female relatives have a higher life expectancy.

The Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania has announced that Richard Pepino and the School District of Philadelphia are the recipients of the second annual Netter Center Faculty-Community

Konrad Kording has been named a Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.